Christopher McCandless was a man shaped after his rough, sharp-edged, family life. He was born in El Segundo, California on February 12th, 1968. Chris grew up in a very unique situation. His father, Walt McCandless, was probably the closest thing to why Chris left in the first place. Walt lead a very dysfunctional family where he lived and worked with his wife, Billie, which created a nasty combination and left a bad taste in the mouths of each family member. Chris’s sister, Carine, was probably the only person he had to a legitimate connection to. Later on Chris found out his father had been living a double life with another woman and her family. This set Chris off and became a driving motive for his absence from the McCandless family. Jon Krakauer, in a sense, was very much like Chris McCandless. Jon was a man who enjoyed the feeling of escaping from humanity to attempt some of the worlds most daring obstacles and adventures. He found personal pleasure in doing things that were unthinkable. He was a climber that feared very little. He bonded to the story of Chris McCandless by relating his past experience of Everest to the failure of Chris’s expedition. Both Krakauer and McCandless were born with an adventurous nature. Their beings craved being different and pushing the limits. For Chris specifically, we see throughout the book his struggle to push away the mainstream life that he lived. He believed there was more to life then just the 20th century fads that everyone was supposed to live. Which is what made people love him, was also what decided his fate in the end. One of the positive things Chris inherited from his father was his impressive level of intelligence. From elementary school to his graduation from Emory University ... ... middle of paper ... ...red along the way, his life went from bad to worse. And if there is anything to be taken away from his story, is that life is meant to be shared among those you do life with. Nothing should be left to chance when it comes to life or death either. Chris made mistakes, but because of the analysis of his errors, we can see just how one person who almost had it all, went to losing everything. When we look at the life lived by Chris McCandless, we see that his relationships with people are impeccably built. He had a way of mesmerizing people by his suave charm and his opinionated character. This part of his life is a vision of what doing life looks like, and successfully too. Overall, Chris McCandless’ life, as sad and depressing that it might be, is a gift to us all of how impactful high risks can be on one’s life. And without the necessary measures, life can be brutal.
Although Chris McCandless' life at home growing up was hounded by his so called "ignorant" father or his "bigot" parents, made the best out of his life whenever he could. He was on the cross country team when he was younger, and they all ran out into the wild almost, purposely getting lost. Being on that team and experiencing that made him happier and started his interest and passion for embracing nature. Chris even found solace and was content with providing food, such as hamburgers, stated by his cross country teammate Eric Hathway, providing company to people less fortunate than him. Taking hikes with his grandfather and doing things as mentioned previously (cross country), eventually influenced him to make his greatest adventure and unbeknownst
In John Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild, the reader follows the life of a young man who, upon learning of his father’s infidelity and bigamy, seems to go off the deep end, isolating himself by traveling into the wild country of Alaska, unprepared for survival, where he died of starvation at 67 pounds.
Although living this life is not always easy for Chris, he embarks on this adventure to achieve what truly matters to him in life.
Chris McCandless spent a lot of time looking for something entirely different from what he already had and while he found true happiness it eventually lead to his demise. He realized who he really was and what life was really all about, and in the end he seemed to become someone that he himself respected.
Herbert Otto, an esteemed author, once wrote, “Change and growth take place when a person has risked themselves and dares to become involved in experimenting with their own life” (Wilderdom: A Project in Natural Living & Transformation). Essentially, Otto is saying that in order to grow as a person and become educated, one must break free from what bring him or her comfort, which allows him or her to be daring and adventurous. Christopher McCandless holds a similar view point on education and experimentation or adventure, which can be seen in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. McCandless believes that once people find a way to break free from the default and comfortable setting that so many of us function on, are we able to discover our adventurous
...fe for oneself. McCandless primary tragic flaw being his unwillingness to form long-term relations brought him both to the happiest moment of his life, but also to his demise. McCandless never had a problem with people, but rather with the status quo of society, the idea that a man or a woman has to live inside of a coordinate plane. McCandless left home and went on his adventure simply for his own well being, he achieved both what he wanted to accomplish while learning a valuable lesson along the way. He learned that happiness must be shared, and while everyone has his or her flaws, it is important to let these go. Christopher McCandless should teach people the importance of following your dreams, and the importance of enjoying the natural serenity of life.
...both found ways to escape the restrictions that were put on them by society. Krakauer found his outlet by writing in outdoor magazines and by writing novels. He was able to survive his trips but he was close to death a couple times also. Once he decided to climb a mountain that had never been climbed before called Devils Thumb. Just like Chris he refused to give up and after much adversity he finally conquered his goal and reached the top of the mountain. Chris never gave up any of his dreams. He traveled when people told him not to, he went into the wild when people told him it was too dangerous, he lived life to the fullest no matter what anyone said. I think the author is envious of this and that is why he decided to write a novel on Chris after writing an article on him in a magazine first.
The book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, was a very interesting story about a young man going to live out in the wild of Alaska. This young mans name is Chris McCandless also known as Alex Supertramp. He had a lot of courage to go out this trip facing the wild. He has set high hopes for how young he is. Graduating college than leaving directly after graduating and burned all of his money and left his car and most possessions behind. His bravery definitely had a big impact on the story. With his bravery, it seemed like he has done this before and has no weariness. Chris was very independent on his trip. He received little help from people. He got work a few times to buy gear for his trip to Alaska, other than that he was either hitch hiking or walking.
...what was going on and figured that like me, he uses big words in the wrong places sometimes. Krakauer nearly became obsessed with McCandless. He writes about Chris as if he could have done the same thing when he was younger. Both are pretty arrogant and think they can take on the world. He even writes about his own mistakes in the world. It seems like the lives of Chris and Jon are a little bit parallel. They both took a lot of chances in their early twenties. Unlike Chris though, Jon lives through his mistakes and goes on to make lots of money selling books. This is a great story about human nature and what can go wrong if you think you can do too much. It kept me interested the whole time I was reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone who knows how to read.
McCandless set out for this adventure because of his anger, therefore he did not actually sit and rationalize his plan. He did not have food, water, hunting supplies, clothing to keep him warm. His death was an accident of not being prepared for nature’s harshness. Krakauer also explains that McCandless’s death was an unplanned accident. Krakauer compared his young adulthood story to McCandless stating what his suspicions were of his death, his theory is based off of the letters McCandless left behind. Their adventure stories are very similar, they both were caught in a life or death situation, the tragedy is that McCandless’s did not have as happy of an ending as Jon Krakauer. Krakauer explains that it was a matter of chance that McCandless did not survive. He also explains that they were similarly affected by their relationships with their fathers. Their stories are also very similar with their father, they were both
They shared something that most people do, but all the while taking it to the extreme. Krakauer and Chris both disliked their fathers, to which Krakauer writes about himself, “I disappointed my father in the usual ways. Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please” (134). Writing an article just wasn’t enough. Krakauer found much of himself in Chris McCandless that he had to go out and write something much more in depth that he could link back to himself as he almost met the same fate as Chris did, although in much different circumstances. Knowing this, one might assume that he may have taken too much of a liking to Chris and was a bit biased with his writing. I believe he was objective enough when the time came to not assume that. There were people that absolutely hated and loved Chris, enough that a simple article wasn’t going to cut
Chris McCandless is a cowardly figure because he is exceptional at abandoning several people in his life, not just his family. People who Chris met on his journeys such as ...
Chris McCandless is regarded as being something as a spiritual figure almost as a cult hero, some call him a disillusioned fool, some call him a great adventurer, and the debate still continues. As Matthew Power calls in his article, an article where he tells the story of McCandless,“The debate falls into two camps: Krakauer's visionary seeker, the tragic hero who dared to live the unmediated life he had dreamed of and died trying; or, as many Alaskans see it, the unprepared fool, a greenhorn who had fundamentally misjudged the wilderness he'd wanted so desperately to commune with.” Like so many stories covering Christopher McCandless’ death, both ends of the argument are discussed in an unfavored manner in the hopes to help develop an opinion on the McCandless story. This open ended question can only be answered open-endedly based on what the readers base for themselves as covered stories intend. Like Power has done, ...
...opher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise. Chris possesses monumental ambitions that had the potential to be harvested into something great, but were not taken advantage of in the correct way. Through the book Krakauer paints a chilling picture of how detrimental choices can be. Had Chris been better prepared for his trip there is a good chance he would have walked out alive. Had Chris lived, he would not be famous, merely criticized for his poor choices and selfish behavior that deeply impacted those close to him. Chris is not a hero, nor should he be regarded as one. His actions were admired by others but spontaneous naive actions do not constitute a hero.
All in all, it is interesting how the trials of life can lead a person into an awakening that inspires millions. Many people believe that walking “into the wild” to live off the land and find himself alone in nature was arrogant, foolish and irresponsible. Chris lacks of knowledge about the wild was a major factor in his death. Chris did not plan how he will survive in the wilderness without proper equipments. He misunderstood that he would have no problem in setting in the wild. Chris immature manner and decisions lead him to starvation and ultimately death. If he planned it out in the beginning he would have saved his life.